Speaking of Iran, the Hagel speaking event was sponsored by the Iran Lobby. So the Iran Lobby will now appoint its guy as the Secretary of Defense, with not a single Democrat daring to stand up and speak out against it (with the possibly exception of Barney Frank who is only against Hagel as a gay man).

But here's one question if Hagel had spent the last decade denouncing the influence of the Saudi Lobby or the Iran Lobby or complaining that a lot of politicians are intimidated by Muslims... what are the odds that he would be up for this job?

I can tell you that now. Zero. Absolutely utterly zero.

A 2007 speech then-Sen. Hagel delivered at Rutgers University in New Jersey as he tested the waters for a presidential run is drawing fresh scrutiny.

Hagel said the U.S. Department of State was an adjunct of the Israeli foreign minister’s office, according to a contemporaneous report of the event.

The event, which was cosponsored by the Rutgers University Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the American Iranian Council, was closed to the press.

Hagel has long-standing ties with the pro-Tehran lobby in the United States. Since 2002, he has appeared as a keynote speaker at fund-raisers and conferences for the American-Iranian Council, a group whose founder, Housang Amirahmadi, has boasted that he is “the Iranian lobby in the United States.”

Housang boasted of his campaign to “conquer” Obama’s heart.

Iranian leaders should pay attention to what is going on, and strengthen their friends. They [Iranian leaders] should have confidence in, energize, and trust their friends [in Washington] so they enter the arena. This is very important. Therefore the next two or three months are the time to conquer Obama’s heart and mind and that of his teams.